Category Archive

Spotted previously on the odd hipster about town, the vintage briefcase is definitely having a moment. On a recent journey from Soho back to Shoreditch, these battered but much prized bags were definitely evident on the street.

Parisians supposedly have a saying; you can never have too many scarves on your person. As summer heats up this side of the Channel, and sunburnt necks become commonplace, we’ve been seeing looser neckerchiefs and bandannas slung around the coolest collars

There’s an urban myth that in London that you are never 8 feet away from a rat, it’s clearly bullshit but you try to get 8 feet away from a pair of Wayfarers this summer- you won’t. The number of companies ripping off the Ray Ban original is staggering with prices and quality ranging from £12 for a cheap pair from Topman up to £115 for a pair of Ray Ban’s from ASOS.

As fashion continues to trawl the Americana back catalogue, the boater pops up as a summer hat option. You’ll need bags of attitude to carry it off as well as this uber-Lower East Side hipster (its photographer Dash Snow) but hell, you can try.

Over the last few years, with the trends having covered skinny jeans, unisex mods, sexually-liberated hippies, shoulder pads, guy/girl jumpsuits and the his/her Eighties where basically anything went, I have tried my hand at many trends that tread the fine line between menswear and womenswear.

This photo recently appeared on Facehunter and, while originally in awe of this fashionisto’s rose accessory, I began to wonder if it would be one step too far and throw me into the realm of uncomfortable dressing…

Calvin Harris, the Dumfries-born DJ who is often tipped with providing the backing track to the vintage wave of last summer, is currently topping the charts with his ‘I’m Not Alone’ and while watching his latest video I was suddenly aware of the BOT male’s striking similarity to another No. 1 popstar…

Shopper bags make a nice alternative to the rucksack, and Carhartt canvas bag from Asos (£48) combines utilitarian simplicity with interesting details. A glut of pockets is a terrible thing on trousers but on a bag it’s pretty useful, and the black straps and zip neatly punctuate the colour.

Seb Law is a grown up business Editor by day, dj by night, and in between finds time to maintain his blog at The Staple and keep us entertained on Twitter. He kindly provided us with his summer picks, which get us in the mood for long days at the park, day trips to the beach and lazy pub garden evenings. Read on to find out what he’ll be wearing this season:

Tavi, the famously fab 12 year-old blogger, is often cited as one of the most fashion-forward figures of the current style circuit. Fashion folk worldwide tune into her Style Rookie blog each day to get a glimpse of her latest get-ups and commentaries. When I saw this photo of her wearing her classic Slow and Steady Wins the Race sunglasses, I was reminded of one of my favourite males and his similar sunnies.

It’s probably a first that Alexis Petridis at The Guardian picks up on a trend before the Brandish team but here’s an exception. Whilst his column on Saturday featured the said accessory with a standard suit, I recently spotted a Liberty sales assistant making a much more imaginative use of the pocket square. He’d paired a vintage-looking, ‘farmer’ check Barbour shirt in cream/khaki with a Liberty pocket square in one of their classic, ‘arts and crafts’ prints in a cool, pale blue. Perfectly folded into the shirt pocket, the pocket square positively fizzed against the rural check of his shirt. Were this boy walking down the street in New York City he’d have been a moving target for The Sartorialist.

On a recent visit to Matches boutique on Marylebone High Street, I couldn’t take my hands off this amazing mlutch bag. Whilst the Matches website (and no doubt producer, Zagliani) coyly describe it as a ‘document holder’ it’s most definitely a mlutch. Too big to be a lady clutch bag, expandable to fit um, a few flat items like the essential glossy mag, passport (I’m struggling here), spare pants.. ‘documents’? The amazing python leather has to be stroked to be really appreciated. Of course, such perfection comes at a price: £688.

This bark-tanned leather shopping bag (239 Eur) looks slightly feminine, but that’s part of the appeal, there’s no faux macho-posturing from this bag, it’s just a simple over the shoulder tote. The true tan colour will look great with a navy suit or a pale Harrington jacket and it’s more interesting than your average laptop bag. Manufactum produce the bag, …

Currently gracing all the best mens glossies is the Mulberry ad for the Eliot Tote bag. It’s rare for a particular model to be touted as the equivalent of a male ‘It’ bag but I guess Mulberry are applying a trusted formula here.

At a disco the other night, the theme was ‘City vs. Country’ and stuck for ideas, a friend and I decided to go as tacky tourists. Cue vintage novelty braces, high-waisted denim shorts and charity shop shirts.

We’ve posted about kerchiefs before, but now a definite trend seems to be developing. Along the way they’ve become ‘officially’ known as Neckerchiefs, just in case you were in any doubt as to their use.

There’s something very liberating about the tote bag for guys. Clearly ‘recreational’ in outlook – its very simplicity makes it clear that you’re not lugging a laptop and however Boho your leatherware is there’s nothing quite so carefree as a simple cotton tote.

How could we have missed the boat on this one? We heralded the age of the ‘medge’ aka the male wedge and we all witnessed the explosion of guyliner, manscara and what have you but somehow the ‘mlutch’ evaded us.